Horse Sore after Hock Injections

[Culetose]

I have an 11 y/o gelding used for hunters. He has been taken along slowly, never pushed, and started exhibiting weird hind end behavior (and naughty behavior). He started cross firing both directions when breaking from trot to canter (under saddle or freely without rider) and also stopping at jumps, sometimes long before we even got near the jump. It came to a head at the end of last show season. He has been seen by chiropractor and vet. Saddle fit is good. Vet recommended hock injections based on flexion tests and visual ground exam. He looks sound at trot and canter other than the last ouchy swap of his lead before he trots. I decided to go forward with the hocks a week ago. Lots of fluid drained out although vet said he has good joint space. He also essentially had the winter off (besides daily turnout) up to this point and had shown a great deal of improvement up until vet visit. Well, hocks injected one week ago - aftercare instructions followed for day of stall rest, then hand walking, and some turnout, and I was expecting him to feel brand new. Not so much… I free lunged in the arena tonight and he’s worse than ever. Hocks are warm. I’m wondering if I made a mistake.

Also worth noting is that he was diagnosed (through scoping) of having full blown ulcers a few summers ago, of which I feel I’ve kept in check. We treated the crap out of them, the whole shebang for a month and $2500 later, and I’ve also made some lifestyle changes for him to prevent them.

Why is he so sore after injections? Help? Is this an ulcer flare from IV bute, the steroids, etc, or is it common for the hocks to be sore after injections? Could it be an infection? Short of a full fledged, intensive lameness exam with a lameness specialist that will make me broke, I don’t know what to do. So disheartening.
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[Culetose]

And I will be contacting vet tomorrow and pulling horse’s temp. In the meantime, what are people’s experiences or thoughts on this?

[Culetose]

He’s been tested for Lyme also: negative.

[Laurierace]

It takes two weeks for hock injections to really kick in but it is possible the stall rest caused him to stiffen up in his hocks or elsewhere. The biggest concern is obviously infection so monitoring his temp is a good idea. If it is normal I wouldn’t panic until you have him back in some regular work.

[findeight]

You need x rays. A visual really cannot see everything that’s wrong inside the joints as a horse ages. There are also multiple injection sites possible in each hock (3 IIRC, total of 6 if you get all of them on both hocks). It’s usually better to x Ray before injecting anything to avoid wasting money treating what’s not wrong or only getting some of it.

Often vets are limited by what the owner will authorize or be able to pay for or their perception of that or they don’t have a machine on their truck, so not really their fault. But I would get x rays before doing anything else to avoid wasting funds treating what might be wrong,

[Jungle_Monkey]

@Culetose

Not so much… I free lunged in the arena tonight and he’s worse than ever. Hocks are warm. I’m wondering if I made a mistake.

Why is he so sore after injections? Help? Is this an ulcer flare from IV bute, the steroids, etc, or is it common for the hocks to be sore after injections? Could it be an infection? Short of a full fledged, intensive lameness exam with a lameness specialist that will make me broke, I don’t know what to do. So disheartening.
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He could be having a reaction to the steroids. Mine did.

[findeight]

Don’t free lunge or even put him on a line under control…hand walk him so he can move without stressing his joints. Small circles and, particularly, rocking back to spin or stop hard during free lunging aggravate exsisting problems.

He should be doing better at a week though, particularly given the heat in the joint.

[DressageLin]

In my experience, it does take time for my horse to feel better after the injections. However, I would not expect them to feel much worse. However, I find that it’s a month before the full benefit it really felt for my horse, particularly if there somewhat overdue.

I second the recommendations of shooting some x-rays (at least of one side to see what you are working with). Good luck!

[quietann]

Something is wrong, I’m 90% sure. He should not have heat in the hocks from hock injections. Joint injections can introduce infectious agents, and some people really try to avoid them for that reason. (For the record, I don’t. The mare has been injected many times into many joints.)

Was it just his hocks bugging him? The lead swapping and preferring canter over trot can mean issues elsewhere in the hind end. SIs and stifles come to mind.

YMMV of course.

[Bogie]

When my own horse’s hocks were injected, he felt pretty darned good within a week. I would be concerned about the heat.

[Culetose]

Spoke with vet. His temp was normal. He was less ouchy today. Doesn’t seem at all like an infection. Vet also mentioned that when you fix one thing, another hidden lameness can appear where he was uncomfortable elsewhere. SI and stifles definitely another spot to look. Going to let him be a horse on turnout for a bit longer and try again. Vet reminded me there was heat prior to the injections. Phew. Glad we aren’t dealing with infection here. Vet said he would be fracture lame with a LOT of heat and swelling. Hopefully he’ll feel better with a couple days of previcox and if not, we are on the next step of looking elsewhere. These horses, I tell ya. I can sleep tonight at least. Thanks to all for sharing your experiences.

[Culetose]

Yesterday he was also inside due to the rain and I wonder if that day of immobility with already angry hocks added to the issue. Maybe the fact that he has inflammation there AND got worse means we are on the right path once inflammation disapates. I had also asked the vet if we should Xray, and he said we could, but he was pretty confident on flexions, palpation, observation and history. Maybe not a good recommendation by vet, but I trusted his judgement, and boy did that fluid drain upon injecting - upper and lower joints both sides, super inflamed. That alone made me feel confident we were on the right track. Time and money will tell…Thank you again!

[IPEsq]

I’ve had to repeat injections in fairly short order on a horse with particularly poor flexion in one hock. In between, I was to cold hose and apply DMSO. Could be one treatment was not enough in your case. I’d be concerned about the heat, though, and want a vet to take a look.

[findeight]

You are right, not a good recommendation by a vet for long running, chronic heat in the hock(s). Perhaps they are trying not to spend too much of your money? Or perhaps the portable machine on the truck is not ship shape and up to date or vets outside of their comfort zone???

Ive been injecting since 95, like, 6 or 7 different horses for various reasons. Never had more then a few days recovery and never injected with heat in the joint until after x rays. Actually, never injected without prior x rays at all. Could be chips, could be active fusing…you can’t know unless you look inside and it gets expensive spending on what’s not wrong when what is gets worse.

You need to see how he is off all meds before you try to put him back to work.